Ken Head (1944-2020)

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I take the opportunity today to publish a long-overdue tribute to Ken Head who was not only a very fine poet but also wonderfully courteous and unassuming man. If his poetry has not received the recognition it so self-evidently deserves this is because Ken was always more concerned to develop the quality of his writing rather than chasing worldly success. I first got to know Ken when after an inordinately long fallow period that had lasted for two decades I had started writing again and brought out a collection of my own poems called Work Horses. Much to my surprise it received an enthusiastic review in Helen Ivory’s popular ezine Ink Sweat and Tears. A positive review is, of course, always welcome but, more importantly, this was clearly a reviewer who ‘got me’ and whose idea of poetry was very similar to my own…